# tender

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈtɛn.də(ɹ)/ · frequency rank #6,192

## Definitions
1. Sensitive or painful to the touch.
2. Easily bruised or injured; not firm or hard; delicate.
3. Physically weak; not able to endure hardship.
4. Soft and easily chewed.
5. Sensible to impression and pain; easily pained.
6. Fond, loving, gentle, or sweet.
7. Young and inexperienced.
8. Adapted to excite feeling or sympathy; expressive of the softer passions; pathetic.
9. Apt to give pain; causing grief or pain; delicate.
10. Heeling over too easily when under sail; said of a vessel.
11. Exciting kind concern; dear; precious.
12. Careful to keep inviolate, or not to injure; used with of.

## Etymology
From Middle English tender, tendere, from Anglo-Norman tender, Old French tendre, from Latin tener, tenerum (“soft, delicate”).

## Easily confused with
- **tends** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-tends)
- **tense** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-tense)
- **tenor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-tenor)
- **toner** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-toner)
- **tenet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-tenet)
- **tuner** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-tuner)
- **trader** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-trader)
- **tinder** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-tinder)
- **tendon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-tendon)
- **tinker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-tinker)
- **tester** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-tester)
- **tensor** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-tensor)
- **tether** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-tether)
- **tenses** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-tenses)
- **tenner** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-tenner)
- **thunder** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-thunder)
- **tenderly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tender-vs-tenderly)
- **tend** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tend-vs-tender)
- **temper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/temper-vs-tender)
- **tended** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tended-vs-tender)

## Common misspellings (9)
`etnder`, `tedner`, `tendder`, `tenderr`, `tendre`, `tenedr`, `tennder`, `tneder`, `ttender`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/tender